“Tanya van der Lippe is one of the most innovative and original analysts of everyday life, and this book should be required reading for all sociologists.”
—Jonathan Gershuny, Professor of Economic Sociology at the UCL Institute of Social and Economic Research; Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford; Chair of the Section on Sociology, Demography and Social Statistics; former Director of three ESRC research centres (the Centre for Micro-Social Change and the British Household Panel Study at the University of Essex, and the Centre for Time Use Research at the Universities of Oxford and College London); CBE (2017), Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).

He is a pioneer of time-use research, having advanced the inclusion of “non-market activities” (such as housework and childcare) within the purview of economic statistics, thereby illuminating the “dark matter” economy that lies beyond conventional GDP measures. He co-edited the two-volume Routledge International Handbook of Time Use and is the author of works including What Are We Really Doing All Day?

“This book offers thought-provoking, fresh insights into time as a competitive resource, exploring the pressures brought by advanced technologies, intensifying expectations, and people’s pursuit of ‘more.’”
—Phyllis Moen, renowned sociologist, McKnight Chair in Sociology at the University of Minnesota, and formerly the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies at Cornell University. While at Cornell, she founded the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, the Cornell Work and Family Institute, and the Alfred P. Sloan Center on the Economics of Ageing.

“The book makes a compelling case that busyness is not a matter of individual efficiency but a social choice.”
—Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology at the University of Melbourne, where she serves as Founding Director of the Future of Work Lab and the Gender Equity Initiative. She has been recognized as Australia’s leading gender studies scholar (2022 and 2023) and as one of the country’s top sociologists in 2023. She is the author of Exhausted: How to Lighten Our Mental Load, among other works.

★ A brand-new work by Professor Tanya van der Lippe, one of the most authoritative scholars in the field of “time pressure/daily rhythms” in contemporary European sociology; Professor of Family Sociology and Labour Relations at Utrecht University in the Netherlands; former President of the European Sociological Association (ESA); and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), as well as recipient of the prestigious Simon Stevin Prize—often dubbed the “Dutch Nobel Prize”!
★ Highly recommended by leading experts, including Jonathan Gershuny, Professor of Economic Sociology at the Institute of Social Research at University College London and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford, holder of the Order of the British Empire and Fellow of the British Academy, and a pioneer of Time Use Research; as well as Phyllis Moen, Chair of the McKnight Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies at Cornell University, and a renowned sociologist.
★ This book guides readers beyond the surface of “busyness,” systematically revealing how social norms, collective rhythms, and networked connectivity generate systemic time pressure from the perspective of social choice. It delves into the structural roots of contemporary society, offers practical strategies for regaining calm, and inspires both individuals and organizations to take action against stress.
★ Drawing on large-scale surveys and rigorous experimental data from international comparative studies, the book provides an in-depth analysis of key challenges such as collective involution, the disproportionate burden borne by mothers, the difficulties of remote work, and gendered divisions of labor. Whether you are a general reader concerned with balance and pace in modern life, or a scholar researching labour, gender, and social policy, you will find fresh insights within these pages.

Always feeling pressed for time? This isn’t just your problem—it’s a societal one.
This book examines how the erosion of social norms and collective rhythms, along with our ever‑present online connectivity, gives rise to chronic time pressure. Drawing on international comparisons and sociological analysis, it explores how busyness affects physical and mental health, why mothers bear an additional burden, and the challenges of remote work.
Whether readers seek to deepen their understanding of modern life, gendered labor, or strategies for regaining calm, this book illuminates the ways in which our society shapes how we experience and perceive time.
[This book is an Open Access title.]

Tanya van der Lippe
Professor of Family Sociology and Labor Relations at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, she previously served as Head of the Department of Sociology. She is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), a former President of the European Sociological Association (ESA), and also a member of the Dutch Government’s Scientific Council for Policy Research (WRR) and of the ICS research institute (Interuniversity Centre for Theoretical and Methodological Social Sciences). She is renowned in sociology and other fields for demonstrating that work and family life are inextricably linked and that success depends on balancing the two. Known for her use of advanced, multi-method data collection, her research spans gender, work–family issues, organizations, and leadership, combining large-scale survey techniques with rigorous experimental research designs. Her work integrates theories from sociology, economics, and psychology, and her analytical perspective encompasses both national and international levels. In 2022, Van der Lippe was awarded the Simon Stevin Prize, the Netherlands’ highest honor—often referred to as the “Dutch Nobel Prize”—which recognizes researchers of international standing who have achieved outstanding success in knowledge dissemination and societal impact. She has received an Advanced Grant (AdG) from the European Research Council (ERC) to study investment in a sustainable European workforce, followed by an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant to explore whether the findings on sustainable labor can be shared internationally with businesses and other organizations.

1. Introduction: The Problem of Time Pressure
2. Collective Rhythm or Individual Pace
3. The Normalization of Busyness
4. Mothers Are Busy Because the Family Revolution Is Not Yet Complete
5. Always Online, Because We Now Have the Means to Be
6. Integration or Fragmentation
7. The Dilemmas of Working from Home
8. Not Everyone Is Busy, Nor Does Everyone Want to Be.
9. Scenarios and Prospects